Jcc Urged To Boost Bus Service For Summer Help

January 28, 1989|By DAVID LERMAN Staff Writer

JAMES CITY (COUNTY) — The county should arrange for some kind of van pool or bus service to Newport News by spring to help area employers fill as many as 1,200 job vacancies expected in the tourist season, a new transit study says.

The $10,000 study, prepared by a private consultant for the county and the Virginia Department of Transportation, found that 10 percent of the expected job vacancies this summer could be filled by providing some form of mass transit to put local jobs in reach of Newport News residents.

The consultant, Ecosometrics Inc. of Bethesda, Md., recommends either beefing up the county's van-pool program or contracting to expand the lower Peninsula's Pentran bus service. The expanded service would add express trips to Williamsburg and job sites along Richmond Road.

If some form of mass transit is not created soon, officials warn, the area will be hit with what may be a severe labor shortage.

"Last year you couldn't help seeing `Help Wanted' signs in so many establishments," said Robert W. Hershberger, executive vice president of the Williamsburg Area Chamber of Commerce. "The general perception is this year there may even be a far greater need."

However, transportation improvements will probably provide only 120 of the potential 1,200 workers that will need to be hired, according to Frederic D. Fravel, co-author of the transit study.

"It's not the cure for the employment problem," Fravel said of the mass transit effort. "But it removes a barrier that would keep some people from coming up to work in Williamsburg."

Last month, the unemployment rate in James City was 2.7 percent, while the rate was 4.9 percent in Newport News, according to the Virginia Employment Commission.

Fravel concedes that the prospects for expanding commuter service depend on finding enough employers willing to subsidize it. Last year, two of the area's largest tourist attractions, Busch Gardens and Water Country, began offering a subsidized van pool operation to help fill jobs. Fravel said the systems are used by 100 to 150 Busch Garden employees and 30 to 40 Water Country employees.

But it is unclear how many other businesses, many of which are smaller operations, would be willing to help pay for commuter service. A survey of 101 area businesses in August found that while 62 percent favor creating a new Richmond Road express bus service, only 11 percent would be willing to subsidize it.

Nevertheless, at least a few large employers, worried about having enough workers this summer, have begun talking about commuter service options, according to Gerri Robertson, the county's ride-sharing coordinator.

The Williamsburg Pottery Factory is considering a van-pool service or a direct shuttle operation to Richmond, and Colonial Williamsburg is considering joining the van-pool program offered by Busch Gardens, she said.

The county's self-supporting Share-a-Ride program, funded by passengers and subsidized by employers, operates seven vans that serve about 105 passengers during the summer months, Robertson said.

The study also found that ridership on the James City County Transit system has been falling since 1986, when passengers were hit with a 33 percent increase that raised the fare to $1. To increase ridership, the study recommends offering four additional hours of service in the peak season and adding service on Richmond Road by 1992, to coincide with the opening of Norge Shopping Center.

It said the expanded service would cost the county an additional $21,000 in fiscal year 1992.